U.S. Pat. No. 4,600,765, PCT application publication No. W085/03712 and co-pending U.S. application Ser. No. 836,902, filed Mar. 6, 1986, all of which are hereby incorporated by reference, disclose a process for forming (1-phenylethyl) hydroquinone by reacting styrene and hydroquinone in the presence of effective catalytic amounts of a Lewis Acid and in the presence of an organic diluent. Unfortunately, as will be readily apparent from those applications and the patent, the process does not provide for a high yield of the monosubstituted (1-phenylethyl) hydroquinone in as much as there are significant amounts of di substituted (including higher degrees of substitution) phenylethyl hydroquinones formed.
Thus it will be appreciated that there is a need in the art to provide for an improved process whereby the yield of (1-phenylethyl) hydroquinone can be increased and the amount of di substituted phenylethyl hydroquinones minimized and effectively virtually eliminated.